Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Todd Pence wrote:That's American publishing for you. It costs more to print less copies of a book.

It's always been a fact of printing and, in fact, of most kinds of manufacture, because of the upfront costs involved.

Oh yeah, that's fundamental economics. Look at the Model T production numbers and what a new Ford cost. (Being a Detroit/Dearborn guy, I couldn't resist.)

Year. production Cost
1909. 10,666 $825
1925. 1.9 million $260

Todd Pence wrote:That's American publishing for you. It costs more to print less copies of a book.

This is why, if you have the editorial and technical chops, or people who can help, I encourage self-publishing through Amazon. You need to ask what value a publisher will add to your book, and in most cases for most people, the answer is very little. And when you self-publish, you can always easily publish a new, expanded edition with any necessary corrections. I’ve been on the self-publishing bandwagon for 15 years. I mistakenly allowed a university press to publish my novel. They did nothing to help promote it, but they collect the profit margin until I reach a certain sales count, and I have no control over my copyright.

Well, as with anything, there's pros and cons with self-publishing. They're pretty self-evident so I won't go into them here. I will say that I've warmed up to the idea a bit over the last few years, and have thought about re-issuing updated versions of some out-of-print titles as e-books. I'll probably never do it for an original work, but that's not to say it's a bad option depending on the writer and his situation.

As far as university presses go, some are better than others---much, much better. The Univ. of Chicago Press, for example, is on a par with many mainstream houses. Fiction and poetry have always been tough sells, even with large NY houses.

IIRC, Mark Twain self-published some of his books.

RichardBak wrote:I have thought about re-issuing updated versions of some out-of-print titles as e-books.

I used to operate a literary press that published only ebooks. It was a disaster because none of the authors felt they’d actually been published! LOL

Yeah, that's probably the most difficult barrier to break down---the idea that you haven't truly been published unless there's something tangible to hold in your hands. There's that wonderful experience of holding a freshly published book---the binding cracking, the smell, all that---that's impossible to replicate with an e-book. On the other hand, with technology the way it is today, one can easily do a limited print run of an e-book. Make it part of a marketing strategy: "Only 100 copies, signed and numbered by author." Of course, covering one's cost per book is problematic. But it does satisfy the ego.

I know a photo historian who used Snapfish to print a few dozen hardbound copies of a book on real-photo postcards from some region of Michigan---a book of admittedly marginal interest. She designed the pages, all full color, wrote the text, and either sold or handed out copies. Damn good-looking book. Looked like a traditional publisher did it. I don't know whether she also did an e-book version of it, though.